1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium having a gloss surface layer.
2. Background Art
A gloss surface layer for smoothening the surface is sometimes provided on a recording media for use in recording with an ink composition to impart a high-quality feel or a photograph-like quality to the recorded image. An ink jet printer, especially a color ink jet printer, has made it possible to easily provide an image with high resolution, leading to a demand for a recording medium having a gloss surface layer suitable for use in ink jet recording.
Since the surface of the gloss surface layer is smooth, there is a fear of causing a failure of the recording medium with the gloss surface layer to be fed or carried in a printer. For example, when the recording medium is placed so as for the gloss surface layer to face a sheet feed roller of the printer, the sheet feed roller does not successfully engage with the smooth gloss surface layer and idled making it impossible to satisfactorily carry the recording medium. On the other hand, when the recording medium is placed so as for the gloss surface layer to face the sheet feed tray side of the printer, the gloss surface layer is adsorbed to the stacked sheets of the recording medium, causing a failure of the recording medium to be fed.
The conventional gloss surface layer has been produced by applying a mixture of silica with a binder onto the surface of a substrate by, for example, a casting method. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 274587/1990 discloses a gloss surface layer comprising a pigment and a water-soluble binder. The pigment is composed mainly of synthetic silica and colloidal silica. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 117335/1995 discloses a gloss surface layer composed mainly of colloidal particles having an average particle diameter of not more than 300 nm. The claimed advantage is that use of silica can provide a gloss surface layer having good gloss.
So far as the present inventors know, however, no gloss surface layer using silica having considered geometry has been proposed in the art.